Contest: How much would it cost to surf fish every village in Long Island?

[DarkSkies]

A friend who fishes and surfs called this morning.

He posed that question to me, and the sheer dollar estimates we were talking about were shocking, though expected.

We haven't touched base in awhile. He lives in NJ and is a fighter for fishing access from way back, one of the original guys who threatened Deal, NJ officials with a lawsuit to gain access for the surfers there. Back in the 80's, I think. Surfrider eventually took over the cause and the lawsuit, but the way I understand it, he was one of the original guys, offering to pay money to a lawyer to get things started.

We were talking about access in LI, as although he surfs, he fishes every fishable day.

We started counting the places where you need night permits to fish (basically almost everywhere except some places in the Western S Shore/NY Bight and the Western Sound.) And even those areas have limited free access, mostly docks and piers in questionable spots..





He said:
"Rich, the guys in NJ don't know how easy they have it...if I wanted to fish every different village area in LI at night, can you imagine how much it would cost, just for one season?? "

We started rattling off the obvious places, Night permit for Gateway... (Breezy, Tilden, Floyd Bennet, etc), Night passes for Jones, FI, then the Hampton Beaches...and of course Montauk.... where you not only need a night access pass to park in the lot to fish, but also a 4wd pass if you want to drive on the beaches as well....

I'm not giving away the answers here, because there are a lot more "villages" on the North Shore that come into the equation. For example, if you want to fish the Brookhaven area, if you're not a resident you need a night fishing permit just to get out there and walk out on the sand with the intention of fishing.... I think that permit is $150 (not sure of the exact fee) for folks who don't live in Brookhaven proper, and there are similar fees all up and down the North Shore....

[DarkSkies]

So I thought this would be an interesting idea for a contest. I'll drag this one out because there will probably be several answers that folks feel are "more correct" than others. It will take some time to sort each answer out, and determine which total answer is more accurate...

To help simplify things, here are the rules....

1. What is the total dollar amount required to fish EACH town beach in LI, for a night of surf fishing? Assuming that was physically possible (probably not) , how much would you need to spend to accomplish this? The answer closest to the actual answer, within $100, is the winner.
Also, to simplify calculations, assume that at EACH area the permit you are paying for is for a non-resident night fishing pass, and include a 4wd permit if one is offered.


2.Geographic parameters... You would need to include all areas both on the North Shore and South Shore, and any federal parks included. You should also include the Gateway Park pass, ..The whole area outlined below...
[Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City (Queens and Brooklyn),[1] and two of which are mainly suburban (Nassau and Suffolk). The term "Long Island" often refers only to Nassau and Suffolk counties in order to differentiate them from New York City, though all four counties on the island are part of the New York metropolitan area]

3. Enter as many times as you want. If more than one person guesses the actual dollar amount, the one who posted first wins the prize. I may give a consolation prize to the 2nd accurate entry, depends on how things go in the contest.

4. Contest ends April 15, 2012. (the opening of striped bass season) I'll announce the winner the weekend after that.

5. Prize is 2 plugs. I don't want to make the prize the reason for participation. This is really a test about how much you know about the access, or how nutz you are about fishing in LI. I imagine a hard-core surf guy would know most of these fees off the top of his head...but how many of us know All of them?





This is also an exercise about how much money it costs to fish in LI if you really are dedicated to fishing all of it....

And hopefully a lesson to the surfcasters in NJ and other states that have free access, that we should be extremely grateful for the access we have, because all the guys who fish LI surf put up with these fees on a yearly basis.

Yup,. I'm preaching again...but that's often the only way I can convey some of the things I've learned, and try to get people to appreciate the awesome surf opportunities we have in NJ, all for free, for now...

And I do have a slight hope that with this education and raising awareness, maybe some more people will come out to protest whenever there is a surf access issue in LI or NJ.

Brookhaven access took almost 2 years after it was taken away....and now folks still have to pay to fish there at night. That just doesn't sit right with me, even though I'm part of the group that fought for that access...
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ght=brookhaven




So enter as often as you like, and if ya don't feel like doing the research,...feel free to guess....either way all I'm hoping to do is raise awareness and appreciation...thanks for reading.

[rockhopper]

I dont have the time to figure it out now, but I should put a guess in in case I am right and hopefully beat out someone else. I say $2150 for all the passes, if as you said they are all for non-resident or out of area. It really does suck if you had to pay all that money. Thats why I usually get the Montauk pass and one or 2 others, and sometimes sneak in in a beach. But don't sneak in at the Hamptons even after Oct. One of the guys there is a real Nazi and he will have you arrested!

[BassBuddah]

I don't even want to think about the total cost, Dark. You either have to be very rich, or you would be broke. As rockhopper said it's best to know a few areas well, fish them hard, and buy the permits for those. I understand your point though, it's something I as a LI resident have come to accept, just like $4 a gallon gas. Price of living on LI.

[surfstix1963]

yeah I'm thinking around $2300 and thats after you pay taxes to keep half of them open in the first place.

[fishinmission78]

No disrespect meant, but you would never get me to pay those fees. I think you guys are being robbed. Paying that kind of money to fish beaches that were given to us by God is insane. I pay for the Island Beach pass because I can drive on, but to pay to walk on a beach, like Lavalette, just because I don't live in that town? Never happen, I would sneak in there first.

[surfstix1963]

Thats why I only fish the south shore of long island I get the county and state permit and thats plenty of beach to fish to pay the towns fees for little beach acess to walk or drive on not me.those 2 permits access points west and east from democrat point to Montauk it's the stuffy little towns in between that want more money they can shove it IMHO sooner or later the fish are heading to me.

[williehookem]

I am saying $2550 but I am just guessing. I feel that number is close though.